The Shadow Level
by Obsidian Fire
Summary: When Zack befriended the newest Turk, he just thought he'd have a new friend. He didn't know that he and and Sephiroth would find find out that many mysteries and horrors surround themselves, their friends, and Shin-Ra. Turk Cloud. ZackxAerith CloudxTifa
1. The Newest Turk

AN: This is an AU that diverged from canon quite a while before the start of the actual story. I decided to make it more like the game and drop you guys right in the middle of a situation, so don't be surprised when people are out of character or have different roles than they have in canon. Eventually, all will be explained. Zack is canon, so far, and this is mostly from his point of view; he will be in character. This is the prologue for this story and as such, it will be the shortest chapter in the story, the rest will be much longer.

Parings: light ZackxAerith, CloudxTifa

Spoilers: There will be CC and BC (Before Crisis) spoilers. These will mostly be in the form of characters. While you don't have to know BC to understand what's going on, it will help you understand certain characters better.

This starts near the beginning of Chapter Four in the game, during the beginning of Angeal's and Genesis' attack on Shin-Ra. Enjoy!

* * *

Prologue**  
The Newest Turk**

_Finally,_ Zack thought as he entered Sector 8. It had been a long night and Zack was tired. Being told your mentor was going to be assassinated was bad enough; having to fight off an attack most likely caused by your mentor was even worse.

Unfortunately for him, there was Genesis-copies in the plaza he just entered. They were heading towards a guy who looked a couple of years younger than Zack. Zack ran across the plaza and started to draw his sword only to have an EMR block his path. He skidded to a stop and looked over to see Reno blocking his way.

Reno removed his EMR from Zack's path and smirked. "Sector 8 is the Turk's turf," the red-haired Turk said, as if it explained everything.

Zack turned around to see where the guy was, only to find himself surrounded by Rude and Tseng. "You've got to be kidding me." He knew Turks were heartless, but still... "Tseng, do something."

Rude pushed his sunglasses further up his nose and smiled at Zack. "There's no reason to worry about the kid."

"But-" Zack turned just in time to see the guy turn around and shoot both Genesis-copies in the heart. He had never seen anyone shoot a gun that fast. "Wow," he said.

"Indeed," Tseng said before he turned to Reno and Rude. "How are the other areas?" he asked them.

Reno snorted. "Monsters are crawling all over Midgar."

"And even SOLDIERs are having difficulties," Rude finished for him and glanced at Zack.

Tseng nodded in understanding. "Take care of it." The two Turks nodded and ran off.

"So," Zack looked at Tseng, "even Turks are on the job?"

"SOLDIER's being stingy with it's manpower, that's why," an unfamiliar voice answered.

"Come on, we're pretty short handed right now." Zack stopped when he realized it was not Tseng he was talking to. He looked to his side and realized it was the guy who had shot the Genesis-copies. The boy had very spiky long blond hair caught up in a low ponytail and pale skin. Sunglasses prevented Zack from seeing his eyes. He wore jeans, gloves, and a black leather trench coat . Zack could see no sign of a gun anywhere on him. The thing that struck Zack the most about him was his age; he looked at least two years younger then Zack was.

Zack ran how Reno and Rude had acted through his head as well as the kid's skill with a gun and it finally hit him. "Wait, you're a Turk too?" He looked at the kid in amazement.

The kid nodded. "Yep. The name's Cloud."

"I'm SOLDIER's Zack." He held out a hand and they shook. "Hey, how old are you?" he asked.

Before Cloud could answer, Tseng interrupted. "Zack, aren't you in the middle of a mission?" Cloud snorted.

Zack's mind raced. "Come on Tseng, our goals are the same. Can I help around here?"

The Turk shook his head. "Thanks, but no than-"

"Oh, he can help," Cloud interrupted. "That is if he can reach the copies before I do." He took his gun out of his coat and flipped it through the air before catching it and turned away. "Tseng. Zack. See you later. Oh Zack," he turned and looked back at the SOLDIER. "If you really want to know, I turn sixteen in August. See you." He walked away down the street.

Zack stared at his retreating back and turned to Tseng. "He's young, isn't he?"

Tseng nodded. "Yes, but we haven't seen anyone with his skill with a gun come through the Turks in decades. Now go."

Zack nodded and ran off.

* * *

Fortunately, the next couple of monsters Zack ran into were just mecha; a few sword swipes here and the use of a Bolt materia there sliced through them with ease. The problem started when he almost crashed into another Genesis-copy. It looked a lot more like Genesis did than any other clone he had come across and it was clearly at a higher level than the rest. It was also heavily bleeding from bullet wounds. The most surprising thing about it was the black wing jutting out from its left shoulder.

Right when the copy was about to fly off, Zack slashed at it and succeeded in knocking it out. He stared in awe at the wing. Footsteps approached him and Zack looked up to see Cloud.

Cloud looked down at the copy and then looked at Zack. "To me, wings always symbolized freedom. To be able fly away and leave my past behind..." He looked off in the distance. "I wanted them until I learned your past never really leaves you."

Zack stared at him. _How can he think that when Genesis and Angeal have thrown everything they had away? _"You should know that humans with wings are monsters; we just fought a monster." He pointed at the Genesis-copy and shook his head in disbelief.

The young Turk stiffened. "You're wrong," he said with conviction.

Cloud's denial startled Zack. "What do you mean?"

Cloud gave Zack a piercing glare through his sunglasses and said, "I would think you of all people would know that being a monster has everything to do with actions and nothing to do with appearances." He gave Zack one final nod and walked off, leaving silence in his wake.

Zack stared at his retreating back until his phone rang. After answering it, he began racing to the Sector 5 Reactor._ Angeal, I hope we don't have to kill you,_ he thought.

* * *

AN: As most of you have guessed, Cloud's childhood was a lot different, and as such, he's different. We''ll see a lot more of him later on. Please tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!


	2. Invasion

AN: Hey guys! Somebody asked about chapter length. Don't worry, this is about how long they are. The last chapter was really short for me.

As well as moving the plot along this chapter has a lot of set up in it for the rest of the story so if there's a lot of description and it lags a bit, that's why. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 1**  
Invasion**

_Damn you, Hollander!_ Zack thought as he fought through a group of copies yet again. After he had met up with Sephiroth in in the Sector 5 Reactor, Sephiroth had explained exactly what degradation was and how Hollander was involved with it. They had also found Hollander's lab and the reports and experiments within it. The reports had opened up a barrage of questions that Zack was sure Sephiroth wanted the answers to. While they were in the lab, Hollander had shown up and before Sephiroth could capture him, Genesis had dropped down from the ceiling and given Hollander enough time to escape. Zack had chased after him leaving Sephiroth and Genesis alone in the lab.

Zack chased Hollander through a door and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were in an empty hanger with no outlet other than the door he had come through and falling over the wall of the reactor. "Do you even get what you're doing, Hollander?" he asked when he caught up to the scientist. Before Hollander could answer, the Buster Sword jutted out between him and Hollander from behind a pillar. Hollander turned and ran and Zack looked over to see Angeal. "So, you're working for Hollander now?" he asked, half sarcastic. "What do you plan on doing?"

"World conquest," Angeal deadpanned, half sarcastic as well.

"Would you stop the boring jokes already?" How Angeal could be joking and completely serious at the same time, Zack would never know.

"Then, revenge."

"Against who?" Zack couldn't tell if Angeal was joking or not. He turned to see that Angeal had walked away. "Hey wait, Angeal!" he called.

Angeal didn't show he heard him. Instead, he squared his shoulders and two white wings, one large and one small, burst out of his right shoulder in a flurry of feathers. "I... I've become a monster." He turned to look at Zack. "As a monster, the only thing I can think of doing is word conquest or revenge."

Zack shook his head and walked over to him. "You're wrong." He thought of what Cloud had said and of what he and Sephiroth had found in Hollander's lab. "Wings don't make you a monster."

Angeal's face hardened. "If that is so, what do they make me?" Zack hoped the look of self-loathing in Angeal's eyes was only his imagination.

He cast about for an answer. He grabbed at one of the feathers in the air and the answer came to him. "An angel." He looked at Angeal and smiled. "Those are the wings of an angle, not a monster."

Angeal's face loosened and then hardened again. "I see. As an angel, what goals should I have, Zack?" He seemed almost desperate. "What dreams should I have?" he shouted to the sky. He thrust the Buster Sword into the ground and walked towards Zack.

Zack backed up and Angeal kept walking forward. "Angeal..." something in Angeal's tone seemed off and Zack suddenly feared for him.

"Angels have only one dream." Angeal looked more serious than Zack had ever seen him.

"Please tell me." Zack begged. Something was wrong here and Zack desperately wanted to know what it was.

Angeal stopped walking and paused in thought, before looking Zack in the eye. "To be human."

The answer froze Zack's insides and before he could reply, Angeal crossed the gap between them and punched Zack in the stomach. Zack was thrown across the room and rolled to his feet to look at Angeal. He groaned when he saw Angeal was waiting for a counterattack. _What is going on Angel? Me and Sephiroth don't want to fight you. Why can't you make it easy for me to let you get away?_

"Fight!" Angeal ordered.

Zack smiled and shook his head. "Nope."

Angeal gritted his teeth at his response and powered up a fire materia. He punched the ground, sending a tongue of fire at Zack. Zack tried block it, but the flame hit him and shattered the floor beneath him, sending Zack towards the Slums beneath.

* * *

"Did something happen?" a woman's voice asked.

"Mom?" All Zack saw was white feathers floating against darkness. "I want to save my friend. But I don't know what I should do." _Angeal..._

"Helloooo!" he heard again. The voice was higher this time.

"Mom?" Zack asked again to the darkness.

"Hellooo!" Zack opened his eyes and winced at the bright light. "Hurray!"

Zack found himself looking at a tall arched ceiling filed with light. "Heaven?" he asked.

"No such luck." The voice answered. "This is a church in the slums."

Zack sat up and found himself staring at a girl his age. She had brown hair pulled back in a braided ponytail and long bangs framed her cheerful face. Her bright green eyes glittered. She was gorgeous. "An angel?" he made out.

The girl shook her head. "No, I'm Aerith. You came falling from above." She pointed to a hole in the roof. "Gave me quite a scare." She giggled.

"So you're the one who saved me?" Zack scratched his head, making sure it was fine. Getting hit with a spell from what was probably a mastered materia and falling from the interior of a reactor, through the Plate to the Slums below would have killed him if he hadn't been a SOLDEIR.

"No, not really. All I did was, 'Helloooo!'" She mimicked how she had called out to him.

Zack laughed and jumped to his feet. He'd never meet a girl like her before. "Thanks so much Aerith. I'm Zack! Hmm, I got to repay you somehow..." he trailed off getting an idea.

"No, no," Aerith shook her head. "It's fine."

"No, that just won't do. Oh, how about one date?" He grinned expectantly at her.

"What's that supposed to mean? That's so silly." She walked over towards the hole Zack had fallen through and looked at the flowers. Zack walked over to her and almost... "Don't step on the flowers!" Aerith scolded Zack.

At the same time, the doors of the church opened. Zack and Aerith both looked at the doors and Zack was shocked to see that it was Cloud who had opened them. Cloud crossed his arms and arched an eye brow over his sunglasses. "Zack, what are you doing here?" There was an accusatory note in his voice.

"Cloud, it's not what you think it is," Aerith started. "He didn't mean to come here; he fell through the roof."

"He fell through the roof?" Cloud looked between Aerith and the ceiling. "How in the world did that happen?" He walked over to them and looked up through the hole in the ceiling. He managed to not step on the flowers.

"I was chasing someone through the Sector 5 Reactor when the floor gave way beneath me and I fell." Zack did not trust Cloud enough to tell him what really happened. Cloud was a Turk and who knew what he would do if he knew were Angeal was. There was the matter of Aerith as well. It was obvious to Zack that the two of them knew each other fairly well. Why a nice girl like Aerith would know a Turk, Zack couldn't guess. _I just hope he isn't the reason she don't want to go on a date with me._

Cloud stared hard at Zack for a moment. "Let me get this straight, you fell from somewhere in the reactor to here?" Zack nodded. Cloud grinned and stared at the hole again. "Well that's convenient." He pulled out his PHS and dialed a number. "Hey Reno... Yeah, I'm fine... I found a crazier way of getting to the Slums than through the grate in that one bathroom... Somewhere inside the Sector 5 reactor there's a place where the floor's given way. If you drop down through it, you'll fall right into the church... I went to check on Aerith and found Zack Fair here... That's how he got in... Nice... See you round."

Cloud hung up and looked at Aerith. "Are you going to be okay here?"

Aerith nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's not like anybody knows about this place. Well, except for you guys of course."

"Okay then." He looked at Zack. "I'm assuming you don't know how to get out of the Slums?"

Zack nodded. The Slums were not a place SOLDIERs were encouraged to go to, unless they were on a mission. It was bad for publicity's sake.

"All right then. Follow me. I know a short-cut to get back to the Shin-Ra Tower." Cloud walked out of the church.

"Uh, hey," Zack turned to Aerith. "I was wondering, could I see you again. 'Cause that guy..." he trailed off and pointed behind him.

Aerith laughed. "Don't worry about him; he and the others are just really protective of me. I'll let them know it's fine for you to be here." She smiled again. "I want to spend more time with you too."

"I guess I'll be seeing you later then." Zack turned to go with a large grin on his face.

"Good-bye Zack," Aerith called after him.

When Zack left the church he looked back at the doors and at Aerith._ Who were the 'others' and the 'they' she was talking about?_ He shook his head to clear it. _She'll probably explain later._ He looked up to see Cloud waiting for him. "Shall we go?" he asked.

Cloud nodded and began walking over toward the central pillar of Midgar. There was an uncomfortable silence between the two. Finally Cloud spoke. "Zack, I just want to apologize for how I acted with that Genesis-clone and how I acted back at the church."

Zack chuckled. "It's fine. We were both under a lot of stress."

"Yeah. But Zack," Cloud turned to face him. "Don't mention the church or Aerith to anybody. If..." he paused. "If certain people found out about her... Well, let's just say it wouldn't be good."

"Don't worry." Zack gestured wildly. "I won't tell anyone. 'Sides, who'd believe me even if I told them?"

"Point." They resumed walking.

It didn't take very long before Zack noticed something weird. "Hey Cloud, why is everyone avoiding us?" Top plate, people were in awe of SOLDIERs and always tried to get their attention.

Cloud gave a dry chuckle. "That's because you're with a Turk and the people of the Slums know better than to get involved with the Turks. They're smart."

Zack nodded in agreement and continued to follow Cloud through the maze-like streets. He was not expecting Cloud to stop at Midgar's central pillar. "Uh, Cloud?" he scratched his head in puzzlement. "Are you sure this is the way to the Plate?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. Us Turks like to be able to get around Midgar without being followed. This is one of our favorite ways to and from the Slums." He glanced at Zack and raised an eyebrow, a facial expression Zack was learning meant that Cloud was questioning something. "Can I trust you not to tell anyone about this?"

Zack nodded. That was apparently enough for Cloud because he started climbing the scaffolding that surrounded the pillar. Zack followed him up. When they got to the top, Cloud pushed up a section of the Plate up and back, reveling a hole that went right up through the Plate. He grinned at Zack. "After you," he said nodding at the hole.

"We're going up through that?" Zack looked at Cloud in disbelief. _Somehow, I don't think I want to __know what the Turks were doing when they found this._

Cloud nodded. "It's a bit extreme, but his way, you can get in and out of the Shin-Ra Tower without anyone knowing. He pulled himself up into the hole.

Zack stare after him. There was something off about that last statement. He shrugged and followed Cloud into the hole. He would think about it when he was trying to not kill his mentor. After pulling himself into the plate, Zack looked for Cloud. He found him sitting next to the plate that had covered the hole.

"Are you okay?" Cloud asked.

"Yep." Zack paused to catch his breath. "So where do we go from here?"

"Up the scaffolding." Cloud pointed to the beams that supported the Plate. "But first we have to cover the hole." Cloud dragged the plate over the hole and Zack moved the help him.

"Why do you have to cover it?" Zack grunted. "Wouldn't it be easier if you left it open?" The plate clicked back into place, plunging them into what Zack knew would have been complete darkness if he didn't have SOLIER enhancements.

"It would." Cloud admitted. "But then it might get found and it would have to be dealt with. And the the paperwork for dealing with security risks is annoying." He and Zack started climbing up the scaffolding.

The interior of the Plate was a lot like the Sector 5 Reactor, but without the mako or the lighting. It was a maze of beams and ladders that would be very easy to get lost in. If Cloud hadn't been there, Zack felt he could have wandered in the Plate for days on end. Cloud in himself was interesting. He seemed to know the place well and never got lost or backtracked. It seemed as if he was following something. Zack didn't want to know how he had gotten that familiar with the place. What was definitely odd was Cloud's sunglasses. Even though they were in complete darkness, he hadn't taken them off. Zack suspected it was because he had enhancements as well, but he couldn't know for sure. SOLDIERs and Turks never discussed what type of training they received; it was part of both division's policies.

After a while the interior changed. There was actual lights and the beams and scaffolding gave way to catwalks and staircases. The ceiling was also growing closer. When their heads were almost touching the ceiling, Cloud reached up and moved a grate on the ceiling aside. He clambered up and reached down to help Zack get out. Once they were both out, he slid the grate back on.

"Where are we?" Zack looked around. They were in a long steel hallway with no windows. Zack didn't recognize ever going there.

"The upper basement level." Cloud walked over to a large grate on the side of the wall and opened it. It was the cover of a vent. "The only stuff they keep here is supplies for the Tower, nothing dangerous. We're going in here." He and Zack climbed into the vent.

Their trip through the vents was much shorter than their trip though the Plate. They simply climbed a few ladders that were conveniently placed and crawled for several feet until they got to another grate. Cloud looked through it and waited before opening it. He and Zack got out and Zack was surprised to find himself standing in the men's bathroom on the second floor of the Shin-Ra Tower. "You can get from the Slums to the men's bathroom without anyone knowing?" Zack arched an eyebrow. "That is so cool!"

Cloud nodded as he replaced the grate. "Yeah, but if you get lost it's over."

Zack chuckled nervously. "Right." His phone rang. It was Sephiroth.

"Zack, return to the Shin-Ra Tower immediately. Genesis has started his attack."

Zack glanced at the bathroom which was clearly in the Shin-Ra Tower and shrugged. "Um, Sephiroth, what floor are you on?"

"The Sixty-seventh."

"I'll be there soon." He hung up.

"What floor is he on?" Cloud asked.

"Sixty-seven," Zack said as they walked out of the bathroom.

Cloud nodded. "I need to make a quick stop at my place to get my good materia. It's on the way." They got into the elevator and Cloud pushed the button for Floor 32.

"Um, Cloud, are you sure this is the right floor?" Zack asked when they left the elevator. Floor 32 looked like many of the other break areas scattered throughout the Shin-Ra Tower. It had a few tables, plastic plants, and some vending machines. It did not look like a place the Turks would live.

Cloud grinned. "Watch." He took out a keycard and slid it in and out of the slot in one of the vending machines. It beeped and he keyed in a long series of numbers and letters on the vending machine keypad. A section of the wall slid open and Cloud pulled a gaping Zack through the door. "Welcome to the Turk floor," he announced. The door slid shut. They walked down a hallway and into a lounge. Cloud pushed Zack onto a couch and sat down himself. "Is this what you were expecting?" He glanced around the room.

"Uh, no. Definitely not." Zack said as he looked around. The hallway they had gone down had a bunch of offices. It led to the lounge they were now in. The floor was nothing like the other floors Zack had seen in Shin-Ra. Every other floor, including the SOLDIER floor was neat, clean and had almost no personalization. On this floor, it was obvious the Turks, not Shin-Ra, owned it. Several of the offices doors had post-it notes stuck on them instead of nameplates and a few had no nameplates at all. The lounge lacked vending machines and windows, but made up for it with a well-stocked bar and large plasma screen TV. There were no tables or chairs, just nice leather sofas and a coffee table. Instead of plants, there was a dartboard and a pool table. _How did they get the authorization have all of this?_ Zack wondered. The SOLDIER floor had a nice lounge, but not this nice. _Which is fine, cause then we probably wouldn't want to train as much as we do. Speaking of which..._ "Cloud, do you guys have a VR training room?"

"Yeah," Cloud called over his shoulder. "Several in fact. But they're all down on the other side of the building. Come on." He got up. "I'll show you my room." They left down another hallway. This hallway had a few doors in it. Like with the offices, several of them had post-it notes stuck on them, some had name-plates, and some had neither. Cloud stopped at a door and Zack saw there was a post-it note that read 'Cloud' on it. Cloud unlocked it with his keycard and both he and Zack stepped in.

"Wow," Zack whistled. Cloud's room, or apartment rather, was nice. It was at least twice as big as his own room and, Zack looked through a side door, had its own kitchen. Zack couldn't help but be a little jealous; the Turks apparently, did not have to endure the cafeteria food. "You have a nice little set up."

He turned to look back at Cloud and was surprised to see he had taken off his sunglasses, revealing his eyes. They were a very bright blue that did nothing to hide the fact that he had mako enhancements. _At least as much as a 3rd Class, maybe even 2nd,_ Zack figured. Not having sunglasses also made Cloud look his age. _He wasn't lying about the fact that he's only fifteen, which is young, even by Shin-Ra standards._ At that age, most people were just starting to try out for SOLDIER. For Cloud to be a full-fledged Turk at that age was impressive.

"Yeah, I do." Cloud sounded wistful. "Better than most people do, that's for sure." He was digging through a box filled with materia and picked out different different ones. He set them on the bed next to him. "Feel free to look around, while I sort this. It'll take a while."

Zack nodded and looked around the room. He finally settled on the four large pictures on the walls. The first one was a black and white picture of a small village in the middle of a valley. In the background was a tall mountain with a mako reactor on top. The second picture was of a younger Cloud and a woman with long blond hair. From the way the woman was hugging Cloud, Zack could tell she was his mother. The third picture was an ink drawing of a wolf holding a ring in its mouth. The lines were very fine and Zack, who wasn't much of an artist at all, could tell it could be worth a lot. The last picture was of Cloud and a girl. The girl had long, dark brown hair, dark red eyes and a nice smile. Zack would have loved to meet her, but from the way Cloud was holding her and the girl was looking at Cloud, it was obvious Cloud was miles ahead of him in that regard, and there was still Aerith to consider. ...w_ho is looking open right now._ Zack looked harder at the picture. In Cloud's left earlobe was an earring that looked a lot like the drawing of the wolf._ Very cool. Does he still have it?_

Zack walked back over to Cloud and looked at his left ear. The wolf earring was still there. Cloud looked up at him. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Zack looked the materia spread out on the bed and noticed there was plenty of green attack materia, but no light green restorative materia. It was also a lot smaller than he remembered materia being. Before he could ask about it, Cloud pulled out his gun. Zack whistled. He had never seen a gun like it. It was a heavily customized revolver. The handle was covered with a dark wood the reminded Zack of mahogany and the chamber had a silencer built into it. Around the single barrel were molded lines of metal that could only be described as organic. Instead of the normal sight, there was a wolf's head that was identical to the earring in Cloud's ear. Zack did not want to think about how much it had cost.

Cloud looked up at Zack. "You like it?" His voice held the same pride Angeal's did when he talked about the Buster Sword.

"Yeah. It's awesome. I've only see work that detailed on swords before." Genesis' Rapier came to mind.

Cloud went back to sorting materia. "I was fortunate enough to meet a guy who was an artist when it came to metal working." He slide the wood on the handle back to reveal four single materia slots, two on each side. He replaced the materia in the gun with a red materia, two green materia and a yellow materia and covered the slots up.

After he holstered his gun, Cloud took off his gloves. It turned out there was materia slots under the buckles, a linked slot in one glove and two single slots on the other. Cloud put a blue materia and a green materia in the linked slot and another green materia and a purple materia in the single slots. He put his gloved back on, the materia away, and his sunglasses on. " I'm ready. Let's mosey." Zack nodded and the two of them left the room.

When they got to the break room, Zack looked back as the wall slid back in place. If he hadn't seen it for himself, Zack would never have guessed Floor 32 was the Turk floor. Zack frowned. The hidden floor felt off the same way the Turks knowing a way of getting out of the Shin-Ra Tower felt off. Zack shook his head and entered the elevator. As Cloud had said, smart people didn't get involved with Turks. Zack was smart enough to not get involved. He wouldn't ask. Cloud's materia was another matter.

"So, what's up with your materia?" Zack asked as the elevator ascended.

"What do you mean?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"You only have one type of magic materia and all your materia are really small compared to mine."

"Oh that." Cloud sighed and leaned against the elevator wall. "I'm guessing you've only used materia made by Shin-Ra, right?" Zack nodded. "You know how it's made?"

"Yep," Zack put his hands behind his head and leaned back. "Shin-Ra makes it by crystallizing mako."

"That's true, or at least, it's true for manufactured materia. What a lot of people outside of the Science Department don't know is that materia can also be made naturally at mako springs and fountains. It's a lot smaller than natural materia and it has more spells, but you have to use it a lot more to get the higher level ones to work. There's also a bigger variety of them floating around."

Zack gaped. "Why doesn't Shin-Ra use natural materia?"

"Because it takes a long time for materia to form and a long time for the materia to be mastered and form another one. At least compared to artificial materia." Zack was confused. Cloud must have noticed because he popped the green materia from the linked slot and held it up. "This is a mastered Barrier materia. It's got four spells, Barrier, MBarrier, Reflect, and Wall. It took me a good four years of hard work to master it."

Zack whistled. "I think I now get why they manufacture materia." Cloud nodded. "By the way, what's Reflect; I've never heard of it."

"It's a spell a lot like MBarrier, except that it doesn't just block spells, it reflects them back on the caster." Cloud's eyebrows raised. "I guess they haven't figured out how to make it yet."

"What other materia do you have?" Zack was curious. _What spells can his materia do that mine can't?_

Cloud grinned and Zack cursed himself for asking the question. Cloud had the same look Genesis did when he was talking about materia. Zack prepared himself for a lecture. "Because we could be facing Genesis, who is a materia expert, all my materia is mastered, either by myself or someone else. In my gun, I have a Lightning materia."

"A Lightning materia?" Zack had never herd of such a thing.

"It's got the Blot, Blot2, and Bolt3 spells in it."

"So manufactured materia is the single spells that make up natural materia?"

"Yep, I also have a Poison materia and I bet you can guess what that does." Zack nodded. "I have a Double-Cut materia, which has the 2X Cut and the 4X Cut spells. They make physical attacks hit twice and four times respectively."

Zack winced. _That has to hurt._

Cloud gave a dry laugh. "Yeah, it's nasty on a gun. I also have a summons, but I'm not going to tell you what it is."

"On my gloves I have the Barrier materia linked to an All materia as well as a Restore materia. The  
All materia lets me cast Barrier spells on multiple people at a time. The Restore materia has all three Cure spells as well as Regen. The last one I have is Speed Plus; it makes me a lot faster. But," Cloud looked directly at Zack, "my primary weapon is Fenrir. If I didn't have any materia, but still had him, I'd be fine."

"Who's Fenrir?" Zack had a strange feeling it had to do with the wolf picture in Cloud's room.

"My gun."

That was all Cloud got to say before the elevator doors opened and Zack and Cloud found themselves face-to-face with Sephiroth and... "Angeal!" Zack ran past Sephiroth to see his mentor and poked Angeal in the chest. "Good, I'm not seeing things." He looked back to see Sephiroth giving Cloud his trademark glare of death.

"What are you doing here, Turk?" Sephiroth asked.

"Escorting Zack." Cloud didn't miss a beat. "I found him wandering in the Sector 5 Slums after someone," he raised an eyebrow at Angeal, "tossed him through the floor of the Sector 5 Reactor. He said he had to go find you and I tagged along for the ride."

Sephiroth gave him a hard look. "Fine. If you think you can handle it, you can. You are not in my department; I am not responsible for you. Now, what were you saying, Angeal."

Angeal sighed. "As I was telling Sephiroth, I think Hollander has ordered Genesis to kill Hojo."

Cloud smirked. "He probably thinks Hojo robbed him of his rightful position."

"If Hollander's going after Hojo, he'll be targeting the Science Department floor upstairs." Zack observed.

"Forget about Hojo." Sephiroth turned his back to them. Cloud snorted.

"What?" Sephiroth turned to look at Cloud.

"Oh, nothing. Just that I'd say the same thing and hope that Genesis actually does kill him."

Sephiroth smiled. "Right, you don't like them either."

"What?" Zack looked between Sephiroth and Cloud. "But, why?" Zack didn't get it. _He has enhancements, and Hojo is always involved in the process. Why would he want a great scientist dead?_

"Wait, Zack, you don't know?" Cloud chuckled and leaned against the wall. "Oh man, I can't believe you didn't know this. Let's just say the relationship between the Turks and the Science Department is on the rocks and leave it at that." He shrugged.

"Well, if that will be all," Angeal looked nervous, "we should defend this place from Genesis. Sephiroth, I'll handle things outside if you take the floors below." Sephiroth nodded. "Zack, you go up. Hojo will be your responsibility. Cloud..."

"I'll go with Zack," He interrupted. Angeal reluctantly nodded while Sephiroth looked relieved. Zack and Cloud raced up the stairs.

"Why did you choose to come with me?" Zack asked as they rounded a bend.

"I have a feeling that that's where the action will be. That and the science labs are dangerous. Watch yourself." They entered the lab.

Fortunately, the lab was empty and Hojo was there. Zack walked up to him. "Good, you're safe."

"The combination isn't quite complete yet," Hojo muttered, completely ignoring Zack.

Zack was startled._ He heard me, right?_ He looked next to him, expecting to find Cloud, and only found himself looking at empty air. "Cloud?"

"What?" Cloud's voice cam from behind him.

Zack turned around and saw Cloud standing by the door they had come through. He had Fenrir out and was looking in his direction with a hardened expression on his face. "What's wrong? You look tense."

"Zack, we're in the science labs with Hojo expecting an attack by a SOLDIER 1st Class that's in the same league as Sephiroth. I think being tense is allowed."

"Ku, ku, ku." Zack turned to see Hojo laughing. "A SOLDIER 1st Class in the same league as Sephiroth? Degrading monsters are nothing to fear."

"Are you talking about Genesis?" Zack asked slowly.

"That is correct. It is the Life Body of Knowledge that fell from the sky; a... product that was used in those foolish times. That is the source."

"The Life Body of Knowledge?" None of what Hojo said made any sense to Zack.

"The disaster which came from the sky, Jenova." Zack swore he saw Cloud flinch when Hojo mentioned the name Jenova.

"Uhhh-" Zack had no idea of what Hojo was talking about.

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand," Hojo went on, "SOLDIER's job is not to think; it is to protect the men who think for them, like me." He turned back to the computer.

Zack looked at Cloud. The Turk was tensed for action. "Cloud, what's up?"

Cloud glanced at Zack before relaxing. "Nothing." He leaned against the wall.

Having nothing to do, Zack wandered around the lab. He found a glass pod and went up to it. There was nothing inside. He was about to go into it when Cloud spoke. "Zack, don't go in there."

Zack turned around. "Why? There's nothing inside."

Cloud sighed. "Zack, that pod has Sample written on it and we're in Hojo's lab. Remember what I told you before we got here?"

"Oh. Yeah." Zack slowly walked away from the pod. If a Turk thought something was dangerous, it was dangerous. He hoped he had imagined the look of disappointment on Hojo's face.

After that, a raw silence fell over the lab. Hojo typed away at his computer and muttered about not loosing out to some second-rate scientist's creation. Cloud leaned against a wall and fingered Fenrir. Zack did squats, he so board. He hoped coming there wasn't a mistake.

"Well, look who's here!" Zack knew it wasn't a mistake when black feathers filled the air. Genesis swooped in and pointed his sword at the back of Hojo's neck. "Hollander sent you, correct? Do you really think that if you follow Hollander you degradation will stop? Pitiful... just pitiful." Hojo started laughing.

"Genesis." Zack ran over to them and pulled out his sword. Cloud calmly walked away from the wall and pointed his gun in their direction.

"Ku, ku, ku. No second-rate scientist can stop your degradation."

"Stop this Genesis!" Angeal entered the room.

Hojo stopped laughing and looked at Genesis and Angeal. "Well, isn't this quite a sight..."

Genesis lowered his sword and looked at Angeal. "It is you fate. Your dreams and pride are no more." Zack lowered his as well. He didn't know what was going on between them. "From the Goddess's bow, the fated arrow is released."

"Hollander's monsters are now gathered," Hojo continued.

"SHUT UP!" Zack roared. Hojo was getting annoying.

"Loveless, Act IV." Genesis said, as if Hojo and Zack didn't even exist.

"The scene where the best friends duel each other." Zack was surprised it was Hojo who answered. "An epic story from a long time ago. I read all the research on it, but... it's worthless."

"Was there an end to the duel?" It was Angeal who asked. Why he would want to know, Zack couldn't guess.

Hojo sighed. "It is not known. The last act is missing. Even now it hasn't been found."

"There is an end," Genesis said with conviction as he walked towards the wall and charged up a fireball. Genesis shot the fireball at the wall, which shattered it, leaving a hole that led to the outside. He stood next to the hole and turned to Angeal. "What meaning do you think the Goddess's gift has for us?" Without waiting for an answer, he flew out through the hole.

"Hey! Wait, Genesis!" _I have to know what is going on here._ Zack ran towards the hole, not caring he was on the sixty-eighth floor. He felt someone lift him up and turned to see that Angeal was holding him. Angeal flew Zack out the window towards Genesis. The last thing Zack heard was Hojo's laughter.

* * *

Angeal and Zack found Genesis standing on the roof of a building next to one of the many thoroughfares that ran across Midgar. Genesis smirked down at them. "Thy revenge has scarred my soul. Agonizing for its end my wish becomes my relief- and your peaceful slumber." He lifted a red materia above his head. It glowed and an summoning circle appeared.

"He's summoning again," Zack moaned. He did not want to fight a summon. Those were nasty.

"Zack, I'm counting on you." Angeal dropped him on the thoroughfare and took off.

"But-"

Angeal looked back. "I know you can beat it."

"Angeal! No!" Zack watched as Angeal and Genesis flew up into the sky and began trading blows. Suddenly his PHS rang. Zack picked it up. It turned out to be Aerith. "Aerith? You know what? I'll give you a call a little later."

"Why?" Aerith asked.

Zack looked up at the bright light above him where the summon would appear. "I've got a guest who's just arrived." No way was he telling her a summon had dropped in; it would worry her.

Aerith laughed. "Go then. Don't keep him waiting."

"See you later." Zack hung up and looked up at the summon that had just arrived. It appeared to be a much lager and gold version of the Bahamut summon. _Trust Genesis to get his hands on a summon like this,_ he thought._ This isn't going to be easy._ After experimenting with techniques, Zack found that his Fire materia worked well as did his sword. It was going okay until the Bahamut fired its spines at Zack. Zack was sure he was done for until a Barrier spell came between him and the spines. "What?" Zack looked over to see Cloud on the side of the thoroughfare. "Oh, thanks."

"No problem." Cloud brought up Fenrir and shot the Bahamut with it. Zack watched in amazement as the Buhamut was hit four times with the same bullet. At that the Bahamut burst into flame and disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Zack asked.

"4x Cut. It's sweet." Cloud flourished his gun before sticking it back in his holster.

"No kidding. Wait, how did you get here so fast?" It was a long way from the Shin-Ra Tower to here.

Cloud laughed. "Motorcycle." He pointed to one hidden behind around the bend. "Let's go. Shin-Ra will be glad to find we're alive."

"Hold on. Aerith called me and I had to hang up on her. I need to call her back." Zack got out his PHS and looked at the last person who had called him. Surprisingly, it wasn't Aerith. According to his PHS' logs, Aerith hadn't called Zack at all. "The last person to call me was Sephiroth? Wait a sec, I never gave Aerith my number. How could she call me in the first place?"

"No clue." Cloud turned on the motorcycle effectively ending the conversation. Zack climbed on and the two of them rode back to Shin-Ra.

* * *

AN: About materia. The materia in the original FFVII game and the materia in Crisis Core have several key differences. The best explanation I've found for this difference comes from Sinnatious' fic The Fifth Act. I've added some of my own observations to it. I don't like to put full explanations of stuff like that my stories because it often requires long monologues and makes characters out of character. To get around this, I will occasionally put my explanations below if I think it's important enough. That and it gives me somewhere to write down the rules of this fic's FFVII universe. It also gives you guys a chance to see how I think. These aren't crucial to the plot, so you can skip them if you want and they won't be in every chapter.

* * *

**Obsidian Fire's Materia Reference Page**

**The Original FFVII Game:** This materia is created by mako crystallizing at naturally occurring mako springs and fountains. Since it is "made" by the planet, it is "smarter" than its manufactured counterpart and has a wider range of types, although it does take longer to "make". There are many different types of materia, but they all follow the same pattern of gaining more spells/effects, namely they have to be used. As they are used, more spells/affects become available for use. It should be noted that the less powerful spells are still usable. If it is used enough, the materia becomes "mastered" and makes a "baby" copy of itself. All materia can be mastered. Since it is as big as a marble, the slots used to hold it are small enough to attach to weapons and armor. Due to the unique nature of natural materia, it is possible to "link" support materia to magic materia with specially designed slots. This adds affects to magic materia. While it takes a long time to "level up" materia, many weapons and armors can stop, double, and, rarely, triple the materia growth.

**Crisis Core:** This materia is created when mako is forced to crystallize artificially. There are not as many types of manufactured materia as there is natural materia. Since it is "made" in mass quantities, there is materia of different qualities or "grades" which determine what spell the materia produces. Even though it can be leveled up, manufactured materia knows only one spell. Manufactured materia can be mastered, but it does not copy itself, instead it goes up grade. There are five levels in a grade and eight grades for every type of materia. Sometimes when it changes grades, the spell changes; the materia "forgests" the old spell in favor of the new one. This is occasionally undesirable and can be reversed. It is possible to start out with the highest level spells without having to use the materia. It is just smaller than a tennis ball. Because of it's large size, it cannot be attached to weapons. It also cannot be linked. The number of materia SOLDIERs are alowed to carry is dependent on rank. The most slots they are allowed to have is six. This is not a lot of materia, compared to natural materia, where weapons can hold anywhere from three to eight slots and armor can hold anywhere from one to eight. This limitation is made up for by materia fusion. With materia fusion, it is possible to make materia that can do multiple spells/affects at once.

Here is a practical example of the difference between natural Fire materia and manufactured Fire materia.

**Natural Fire Materia:** This starts out with only one spell, Fire, if used enough, it can learn Fire2 and Fire3 and, eventually, be mastered. The materia can "know" Fire, Fire2 and Fire3 at the same time. This is good because the caster doesn't have to waste their energy on a Fire3 spell when a Fire would have done the job. It can be linked to materia. Natural materia, in the end, is simple: use it a lot and it "learns" more spells and you might just get another one.

**Manufactured Fire Materia:** This is made by Shin-Ra in three base grades; grade 1 is the Fire spell, grade 3 is Fire2, and grade 5 is Fire3. When the materia changes from grade 1 to grade 2 the spell stays the same. When it changes from grade 2 to grade 3, the materia "forgets" Fire and learns Fire2. This means that if you have Fire-type materia with the Fire3 spell, you cannot use a Fire spell, even if it would be more desirable. The advantages of natural materia, is that you don't have to use materia for long periods of time in order to learn higher level spells.

Here's another example. This time between natural Barrier materia and manufactured Barrier (Defense) materia.

**Natural Barrier Materia:** It can know four different spells, Barrier, MBarrier, Reflect, and Wall.

**Manufactured Barrier (Defense) Materia:** The base grades and spells Shin-Ra makes are: grade 2 is Barrier, grade 3 is MBarrier (this is the only grade that has the spell MBarrier), grade 5 is Elemental Ward, grade 7 is Wall. Grade 1 is a weaker Barrier spell, grades 4 and 6 are weaker and stronger Elemental Ward spells respectively and grade 8 is a stronger Wall. It is possible to downgrade materia if the caster doesn't like the spell the materia has. If they do, the materia starts out from the first level of the next lower grade.

**Materia Fusion:** I'm not going to put a post up about how this works because it's really complicated. Just know it depends (mostly) on the materia type and grade. Gamefaqs has a really good guide for it, so if you want to know more about it, look there. This will come up in TSL.

* * *

In my mind the difference between materia underscores the difference between what the Planet values and what Shin-Ra values. The Planet values hard word and perseverance, so that's how materia gets stronger. Shin-Ra values getting power and strength as fast as possible, so it makes powerful materia.

Hope you enjoyed it and please tell me what you think. I generally respond to reviews. Thanks for reading!


End file.
